HSBC France

CCF (now HSBC France), was created on the initiative of Ernest Méja and Benjamin Rossier, respectively the Managing Director and Senior Executive Officer of the Paris branch of the Swiss bank, Banque Fédérale S.A, which opened in 1890.

Eager to be free of the authority of Banque Fédérale, Méja and Rossier together pursued their ambition of creating an institution midway between commercial and financial activities to meet the requirements of corporate customers. They decided to propose to Banque Fédérale that they create a public limited company which would take over the businesses run by the Paris branch.

BSF (Banque Suisse et Française) was founded on June 18, 1894. It was established for a term of fifty years and enjoyed humble beginnings, with only twelve employees working out of an apartment on Rue Laffitte.

BSF experienced rapid growth in an environment favourable to the development of the banking system as well as industrial activities. It saw its staff increase tenfold in just a few years, sparking the need for bigger office space. The new head offices were built from 1906 to 1908 at 20, Rue La Fayette.

The bank struck out early in innovative sectors such as the electricity industry (it financed the first metro line in Paris), cinema, wireless telephony, automobile manufacturing, chemicals and textiles. It developed close working relationships with key clients such as Galeries Lafayette, Compagnie Générale d'Electricité, Nestlé and Société de la Tour Eiffel.

In less than 20 years, BSF rose to become one of the top ten institutions on the Paris exchange. Benjamin Rossier therefore decided to expand the bank to cover the whole of France. The Tourcoing and Lille branches were opened in July 1913.
In 1914, BSF acquired Banque du Colombier, which became its Marseille branch. While expanding to the French provinces, the bank also kept busy opening seven new Paris branches from 1914 to 1917.

Deposits rose despite the war and Banque Suisse et Française played an active role in the investment of national defence loans. In 1917, it merged with two banks: a Lyonnaise bank by the name of Maison Aynard et Fils and Caisse de Crédit de Nice.
The bank’s larger size and the patriotic spirit of the times inspired a name change, and thus Crédit Commercial de France (CCF) was born.

CCF resumed the expansion of its network as World War I drew to a close. A branch was opened in Villeurbanne in 1918, during the same period as the takeover of Banque Le Maillot. The following year, CCF absorbed Banque de Bordeaux (founded in 1818), thereby establishing a foothold in the southwest of France.

By the end of 1919, CCF employed over 2,000 people and the offices on Rue La Fayette were no longer sufficient. The bank took an interest in a prestigious building in western Paris, the Elysée Palace, which would house its central administration department beginning in 1922.

The expansion continued in Paris, where CCF held 19 agencies by 1930, and the provinces, with the absorption of several establishments. Banque Marius Conte Devolx et Cie, based in Salon-de-Provence, was acquired in 1920. Eight years later, the Banque de Mulhouse network gave CCF access to eastern France and Le Havre. Finally, in 1931, the buyout of Banque Bouilloux-Lafond opened new doors in Orléans and the Paris region.

A new management team, with Henri Gunthert, Albert Rossier, Hugues Jéquier and Raymond Merckling, took over the reigns from Benjamin Rossier, who retired in 1936 after devoting forty years to the bank.

When World War II broke out, 40% of the bank’s male staff were called to duty. CCF decentralised its administrative structures to escape from potential bombing raids and was able to run on a reduced capacity.

By 1945, CCF ranked as one of the leading private commercial banks in France. Over the following decades, under the leadership of Jean Davillier and then Jacques Merlin, it entered into a stepped-up development phase.

Under the guidance of Jacques Merlin, the bank initiated a large-scale expansion policy favoured by the rise in deposits and more flexible banking regulations. From 1961 to 1975, the number of branches tripled from 70 to 213.

CCF purchased stakes in Parisian and local banks alike, creating subsidiaries specialising in medium and long-term loans and in real estate.

In addition, CCF’s internal structures were reformed.
The 1960s saw the creation of an industrial department and an international department. This new dimension was enhanced with the purchase of holdings in foreign financial institutions and the development of a network of representative institutions in a variety of countries: one such institution, CCF Suisse, was created in Geneva in 1967.

In 1965, the creation of the daily bank statement enabled customers to receive an account statement after each transaction. And, for the first time ever, the bank launched an advertising campaign targeting the general public. This “major independent private bank” increased its number of shareholders from 17,000 to 45,000, building an ad campaign on the “Banking on success” theme.

Under Jean-Maxime Levêque, Jacques Merlin’s successor, CCF continued to grow, particularly outside France. New branches, subsidiaries and representative offices were opened in Italy, Switzerland, Greece, Germany, the United States, South America and the Middle East.

From 1982 to 1984, under Daniel Deguen, a new management team took the helm at CCF. This team was made up of three people: Michel Pébereau, Charles de Croisset and René de la Serre, who were responsible for setting up new guidelines, particularly at the IT level. CCF created a European-scale investment bank, and its mergers with Union de Banques à Paris, Européenne de Banque and Banque Chaix formed the basis of the future CCF Group.

During this period, CCF developed a telematic banking application and established itself as a leader in the field with the proposal of Vidéocompte (Videoaccount) and Vidéobanque (Videobank).

The French Decree of 24 April 1987 set forth the terms and conditions for the privatisation of CCF: over 15 million shares were floated on the Paris Stock Exchange for the bank’s IPO.
A major communication campaign was launched on a new theme: “Invest in success”. The front of the CCF building on the Champs-Elysées became a billboard for the campaign on which the rising curve of CCF's share price was presented. The number of shareholders climbed to 1,650,000. Michel Pébereau was appointed Chairman of CCF.

Expansion picked up again in the period from 1988 to 1993, with a focus on strengthening the bank's presence in the Ile-de-France region. Meanwhile, CCF continued to gradually develop a network of regional banks operating under their own name.
In 1991, it combined its branches in the Gironde, Périgord and Lot-et-Garonne under the name of a new subsidiary, Crédit Commercial du Sud-Ouest (CCSO) with head offices in Bordeaux. In 1992, it acquired Banque Marze in the Ardèche, followed by Banque de Savoie in 1993.

Crédit Commercial de France also had its eye on Europe. In 1991, it created the IBOS association along with several other European partners. By interconnecting the banks via an IT network, IBOS was able to offer their corporate and individual customers alike a full range of banking services in real time. At first, these services were offered at the European level, after which they were expanded to cover the entire world. A veritable “international virtual bank”, IBOS was comprised of 15 banks in 1999 and spanned a network of over 15,000 branches across the globe.

Under the leadership of Charles de Croisset, in 1994, CCF further expanded and refined its services in certain sectors: investment banking, international private banking and asset management.
 
CCF developed its retail banking activity in France by widening its circle of regional banks. In 1995, it acquired Banque Dupuy de Parseval in the Languedoc-Roussillon. Three years later, Société Marseillaise de Crédit brought its considerable influence in southeastern France and its 160 branches into the fold. By 1999, CCF had also obtained 100% of the capital in Banque de Picardie.

The next year, it bought Banque Pelletier, present in Dax and the southwest, followed by Banque Hervet in the Centre and Ile-de-France regions, in 2001.

The No. 7 French bank ended the 20th century with an uninterrupted 17 years of growth in consolidated net profit.
On April 1, 2000, HSBC, one of the largest financial and banking services groups in the world, launched a friendly takeover bid on CCF. A few months down the road, CCF became the European platform for HSBC Holdings plc and thus began a new chapter of its promising future.

CCF was rapidly integrated into HSBC Group, which took over the bank’s subsidiaries outside France. Responsibility for overseeing HSBC’s operations in Belgium, Spain, Italy and the Netherlands was transferred to CCF, thus confirming its role in the eurozone. CCF’s asset management arm, CCF Capital Management, became HSBC Asset Management (Europe) SA, in charge of asset management in the European market.  CCF’s four private banking subsidiaries (HSBC Republic, CCF Banque Privée Internationale, Banque Eurofin and Banque du Louvre) merged in October 2003 to become HSBC Private Bank France.

CCF Group launched a five-year strategic plan in 2003 with the goal of speeding up growth in priority clientele segments and becoming the benchmark for these segments in terms of quality of service and consultancy.
The Group’s international presence, financial prowess and global technological investments were all assets which, combined with CCF’s renowned offering of a personal relationship with its customers in France, enabled it to better serve its existing customers and win over new ones. The strategic plan drew on the sustained values and past successes of CCF Group.
When in November 2005 CCF became HSBC France, along with Banque Hervet, Union de Banques à Paris and Banque de Picardie, it was able to take on ambitious projects worthy of its new scale.

In Retail Banking, in July 2008, HSBC France completed the sale of HSBC France’s network of seven regional banks in France (Société Marseillaise de Crédit, Banque de Savoie, Banque Chaix, Banque Marze, Banque Dupuy, de Parseval, Banque Pelletier and Crédit Commercial du Sud Ouest) to Banque Fédérale des Banques Populaires, after entering into exclusive discussions in early 2008.